Museo Yancuic

The Museo Yancuic is a new children’s museum in the heart of Iztapalapa and just a few minutes walk from the Constitución de 1917 Metro station. At the foot of the Cerro de la Estrella, it’s an integrated part of the biggest transfer station in the area. Planners originally intended to build a private museum within a shopping complex. But it got better.

The name comes from the Nahuatl word meaning simply “new.”  The formal name is the Museo Infantil y Juvenil Yancuic (MIJY).

Today the site combines exhibitions on art, science, and technology with exhibition halls, a multipurpose room, a cinema and performing arts stage, a bookshop and a pavilion for the study and creation of works of art. The museum also houses the Mexico City Urban Art and Architecture Workshop along with other educational resources.

But kids love it just for the dramatic and inspiring interior. The building design won a National Architecture Design Competition in 2015. A jury awarded the prize to a team of architects that included Mara Partida, Hector Mendoza (Mendoza Partida), Carlos Rodríguez, Laura Sánchez (SPRB) and Boris Bezan (BAX). Construction began in 2017 but ended up being badly delayed by the pandemic. The Museo Yancuic only finally opened in the spring of 2024.

The museum also decentralizes the City’s cultural offering,  especially for young people. To that end, today, visitors take in multiple exhibitions and interactive displays. These focus on environmental protection and social well-being, public parks, recycling, and social development as well as art.  With ​20,000 square meters of exhibition space, there’s a lot to look at.

Hours: Wednesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., (final entries at 4 p.m.)